Summer FUN thread - contribute please

[totoro]

My girls love to play store.

This is one of those where I don't have to exert much energy! LOL
I can have a jar of pennies and a few nickels and dimes.
I then "purchase" things from them! LOL
They will bring out there wares and I look through and can send them back or purchase.

I also send them on errands around the house like they are the waitresses. "May I please have a glass of water"
I then tip them. A penny

My girls are still young enough and nieve enough to be lulled into thinking cleaning is FUN!
husband will say, "You ladies aren't old enough to do the dishes, you wouldn't want to do A BIG GIRL thing like that?"
They freak out and start screaming, "Yes we do, yes we do, please!"
We do it with dusting and this little quiet vacuum as well.

But K just is weird and likes cleaning.

Trish- even after a 3 day weekend for some of our kids they are bouncing off of the walls if their schedules get off or out of whack! It is so much fun. LOL

 

[therese005us]

Yes, I hope you didn't think I was being insensitive. I guess I don't really have a right to be here since my biggest challenge is 19 now and you all seem to have much younger children.
I am so blessed to have come through some difficult situations though, at one stage I had four three children under 3, 2 with challenging behaviours, 1 with very serious health issues (the baby) AND my now 19 yo who was 7 at the time.... recollecting now, it was tough and you all are going through different stages of it now....

I want you to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, there truly is.

Oh, I should be sleeping... you're all coming into summer, and we're approaching winter next week..... (well the official beginning of it)

What about giving the children four ingredients and getting them to make their own lunch?

As a child we used to have tea for lunch and lunch for tea; so some days we got to have strawberries and cream for lunch and soup for tea... it was novel to us!

Waht about finding some needy neighbours and hiring them out to do chores ? Some of the children might find this challenging, but Mrs Smith might need her whole garden mowed and weeded and it could be done as a family...

I don't want to go to bed, it's too scary.

So, I'll do a little more cooking...

Sorry to get off track

 

[totoro]

Trish- you do have a right to be here! every one of our kids is different. Some can sit and play videos all day or by themsleves, some can only sit still for 2 minutes. So we are always trying to help each other with different "new" or old ideas.
You have older kids so you may have great ideas!
You can post anywhere and please do!

 

[totoro]

OK this will cost money if you don't have the paints, but you can pick up the t-shirts at goodwill.
Tie-dye or handpainted tee-shirts are a great idea.
I thought these were cute!

http://crafts.kaboose.com/painted-t-shirts.html

 

[SRL]

Check your local movie theater to see if they are running any summer kids specials. Wehrenberg (midwest) is running a 10 film series that is free, I'm sure they're hoping to make their $ on the concessions.

http://www.wehrenberg.com/presenting.aspx?pId=139

Summer's a good time for kids to learn to cook.

Playdough Cookies--add 1/4-1/2 cup of flour to your favorite sugar cookie recipe. Divide into three sections and work food coloring into the dough (use a plastic bag to knead it in). Let kids create!

 

[Fran]

We would by cheap paint rollers(small ones) and give the kids buckets of water to paint the outside play area. Shaving cream on, then paint rollers to make the mess even more spectatuclar. Hose it down and away they went.

Garden sprinklers were fun as well as making a tent/clubhouse. My boys turned the Cozy Coupe on it's back and made it into a space ship. difficult child had a good imagination for that sort of thing.

easy child and his friends liked to bake pies with me. It was mostly a mess but it was fun.

Ah, the nostalgia.

 

[Andy]

Trish from Oz - What were some of the things your kids found to help fill their days? I do agree with you that "bored" is a dangerous word. It was so when I was growing up and I hear so from many families. I don't think most people are against letting kids be bored but many difficult children so need structure and really can not come up with some possibilities.

We have discovered that boredom is really dangerous for my difficult child - that is when his anxiety levels rise and his mind goes to dangerous thoughts. So, I do try to help him from getting too close to that dangerous level. For the most part, I make him figure out what he needs to do to not be bored - it is a coping skill he needs to be able to use without help from me or anyone else.

I also think that craft projects are important and kids can not get those supplies on their own. My idea of a craft project is to give the kids the materials and then walk away. They can create their own thing. Sometimes they need a model or a theme just to get started but using paint, playdough, sidewalk chalk, ect is a great way to get the imagination going. I might give them a huge poster board with the suggestion to design a zoo and they may say, "Can we design a space station instead?" "Yep, anything you want, go for it!"

I collect cardboard boxes (cereals, pasta, ect) and let difficult child paint. For us, painting is an outdoor summer project. He is also huge into bird houses and I can get unpainted ones at craft stores.

I do not schedule days but I do like to provide new activities once in awhile. I am more of a "Here are your options, do as you please when you please" type of mom.

Oh, and I didn't think you were insensitive. I would love to hear what has worked for you and your kids over the years. What were other things your kids enjoyed in the summer?

Many ideas I read here are reminders, "Oh Yes! I forgot about that one! Thank you!" and many are new "Oh, my kids will love that! Thank you!"

 

[therese005us]

I am going to reply again later to this. Twice I have written a response and twice it has gone off into cyber space - probably with the summer holiday children!!

so, I'm off to milk the cow, since I didn't have time this morning. Back later tonight after all the other necessary running about.

 

[Hound dog]

Trish all my kids are grown as well.

Alot of our kids when they get summer break from school it doesn't last 3 weeks........it's 3 months. For alot of kids that's alot of time to kill. Most especially for many difficult children.

My kids did pretty well on their own most days. They had their daily chores. But they were normally out playing from sun up until sundown. Just every once in a while you'd get the I'm Bored routine. Or if there was a rainy day or 3 then I'd get it. And it helps to have a plan and supplies in place before that happens.

My grandkids also spend the warm days outside. Usually seem to be able to entertain themselves fine. But every once in a while it's fun to do something out of the ordinary just to shake it up a bit.

And you've just as much right here as anyone.

Hugs

 

[therese005us]

Okay, I'm going to try and give you the ideas which disappeared into cyberspace - then the computer shutdown, etc. etc. I think I'm having a bad day. Could be I'm a little sleep depraved...

Well, one of my ideas would be to STOP WASTING WATER!! We poor drought stricken farmers can't bear to think of all that fun waterplay happening!!

So, if the kids want to play with water, get them washing the cars for the family, the whole neighbourhood... they can earn money (or not) and have a fun time too.

Food coloring, tea, and coffee are great for tie dying. You could use scraps of calico or similar cotton materials.

Recycling materials is one of my passions. So, how about collecting all the newspapers and other leftover papers and making paper. Very easy to do, not many materials needed. I could post the stuff you need, or you could look it up. All that shredded paper (old bills etc.) can be turned into something useful.

Get a group together, or just your own family and pop along to the local aged home and entertain them with their latest poetry, singing, dancing etc. for 20-30 mins. We do this monthly anyway, and they love it.

My son used every bit of scrap metal and wood, every screw and nail and built this awful treehouse that stayed up for years! It took him every spare minute of the holidays and he had such fun.

give the kids a pile of wood or similar and tell them to 'go build'.

Another time, we gave DS an old computer to take apart. It took hours and hours, he had such fun.

Local mechanic might have an old alternator or engine or similar to take apart.

If your children are old enough - they could maybe do a week or so of work experience somewhere to gain some skills.

meals on wheels (do you have that?) always are looking for helpers.

I'm mixing in volunteer work, chores and crafty ideas so I hope you find something of interest...

Simple chores about the house are often fun (for a while)

My son needed routine and structure, so I always had a plan in mind, he just didn't know it. If we went away, that was a whole new story... he didn't cope well out of his routine. Still has issues there.



He would spend hours doing jigsaw puzzles, or reading, or any of the above ideas depending on what his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) was dictating.

I'm sending this before it disappears, but I'm going to keep a copy just in case... Here's hoping...